Ius Novum 4/2020

Page 81

Ius Novum 4/2020

PENAL ASPECTS OF REGAINING FREEDOM BY A PERSON LEGALLY DEPRIVED OF IT IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND P I O T R P O N I AT O W S K I * DOI: 10.26399/iusnovum.v14.4.2020.38/p.poniatowski

1. INTRODUCTION ‘The act of Prison-Breaking, however natural to the inmates of those gloomy abodes, cannot be overlooked by the law, as being a violation of the order and course of justice, and a direct infringement of regulations essential to the peace and well-being of society.’1 The words that a Scottish lawyer and historian Sir Archibald Alison said almost 200 years ago perfectly express the need to punish those who unlawfully regain liberty they were lawfully deprived of and those who help the former to liberate. However, there are opinions that punishment of self-liberation should be abolished mainly, as it should be assumed, because of the above-mentioned man’s natural pursuit of liberty.2 However, the need to punish other persons involved in an escape (accessories, instigators, etc.) is not questioned. With the development of methods of executing a penalty of deprivation of liberty and other measures connected with isolation and the introduction of permits for leaving a prison temporarily or conditionally, a problem arose of being unlawfully at large after the permit expires or is withdrawn. British law also prescribes response to this type of acts. * PhD, Criminal Law and Criminology Department at the Faculty of Law and Administration of Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin; e-mail: piotr.poniatowski@poczta.umcs.lublin.pl; ORCID: 0000-0001-9712-0663 1 A. Alison, Principles of the Criminal Law of Scotland, Edinburgh–London 1832, p. 555. 2 For more on such suggestions in Polish literature, see P. Poniatowski, Przestępstwa uwolnienia osoby prawnie pozbawionej wolności (art. 242 i 243 k.k.), Warszawa 2019, pp. 366–367. The opinions resulted in the lack of liability for self-liberation in some countries (Germany, Austria or Switzerland), ibid., p. 41.


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